The Beginning
by Shadow in the Rain
Summary: Beast Boy has just realized that he reeeeeeeeeeeally likes Raven. So now the big question is... dies she like him as moe than a best friend? Will Beast Boy ever find out? Will two annoying girls EVER leane the Titans alone? Join me as we find out! DONE!
1. The Deal That Never Had a Chance

Ok, ready? Here goes my attempt at a fic with more than one chapter. Enjoy!

This starts a few hours after the episode "Things Change," after the Titans have come back to the T Tower, and are celebrating defeating that thing that could hide in anything. If it has a name, could you tell me? That would be cool… anyway, here goes it!

Chapter One: The Deal That Never Had a Chance

The rain pounded down on the windows of the main room of Titans Tower. The night had an ominous feel to it. The Titans come in, exhausted but pleased from defeating the latest villain who had been hanging around town.

"I never want to fight that thing again. Especially if it decides to go into a large pile of dirt… in the rain," said Cyborg.

"Tell me something I don't know," said Raven.

"I have an idea!" said Starfire in her cheery voice. "Why do we not have a celebration celebrating defeating the… thing? I shall transport the customary food of junk."

The others agreed, knowing that if Starfire decided that they were going to have a party, they were going to have a party.

"You guys go ahead without me," said Beast Boy. "I don't really feel like partying."

He left the room without another word.

"Do you think someone should go talk to him?" asked Raven uncertainly.

"Perhaps he left simply because he wanted to take a bath?" Starfire suggested.

"I don't really think so, Star," said Robin. "I think he has other reasons."

"Would this have anything to do with...?" Starfire trailed off. They all knew who she was talking about.

"Why don't we just leave him alone for awhile? Maybe he just needs some time…" said Cyborg.

The others agreed, and they all start setting up for a celebration, even though now none of them really felt like it.

The rain had stopped, and the night was now clear and starry, so BB decided to go outside. That usually helped clear his mind. He sat outside on a rock. The rock where… she had sat with him. The first time. Before. Before everything had happened. Thinking back to that time, he realized how happy he had been. How happy _they_ had been. It was kind of funny, that even after everything, no one seemed to be able to say her name. Funny in a sad way. so he whispered her name, "_Terra,_" over and over and over until it was just that: a name with no face and no meaning. So it was over.

And then he had his best idea in… well, forever. It was simply bloody brilliant! If he didn't get in too deep with any other girls, then he would be okay! So he decided that he would stay out of anything and everything romance-wise for… awhile. At least a couple months, if not a year. So he made this deal with himself, not too get involved with anyone for at least a year. It was the perfect solution! Smiling to himself, he got up, and decided to go for a walk around the island before he went back in to join his friends in the victory party.

He was about half way around the island (or half way around the Tower, I guess) before he stopped. He was right in front of the rock which he had sat on with another person. Raven. Suddenly, as if summoned by his thoughts, she came up behind him.

"So are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm great!" said BB enthusiastically, turning to face her. He turned around to face her and when he did, he saw her for what felt like the first time. His hands got all sweaty and his face got all hot. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he talk to one of his best friends without feeling like he had the flu?

Then he got it.

He liked her.

A lot.

_So much for the deal_, he thought.

She had been saying something to him, but he couldn't have even told you the vaguest thing that she had said. He was just watching he very carefully, wondering if she felt the same way when he talked to her.

She paused, and looked at him, and he could finally hear her.

"Are you… okay? You look… haunted," she said.

He shivered. "Y-yeah…" he managed to stutter.

Just then, the alarm started blaring, and as they ran frantically toward the Tower, he realized something.

_I'm already in way over my head,_ he thought.


	2. The Robbery That Never Was

Chapter Two: The Robbery That Never Was

Raven and Beast Boy ran back to the Tower as fast as they could. When they got there, Robin was already shouting out instructions to the other Titans.

"We've got a bank robbery on 21st Street, unless we get there first!" he yelled as he ran out the door.

"Well, that was informative," said Raven sardonically.

They all rushed out the door.

When they got to the scene of the crime, a surprising sight met their eyes. The bank was perfectly safe and sound, and the streets were dead silent.

"Maybe we got the wrong bank…?" suggested Beast Boy. "'Cause there's no one here."

"There are no other banks on this street or even in this area. Something had to set the alarm off," said Robin stubbornly.

"Well, maybe it was-" Beast Boy began, but Robin shot down the crazy theory that was forming in his head before it was even fully formulated.

"NO! There is something here that shouldn't be, and I'll find it if it's the last thing that I ever do!" Robin shouted.

Suddenly, a commotion could be heard in the shop that was right next to the bank- an all-nite coffee place.

"Get out and STAY OUT!" an angry voice screamed as Dr. Light was ejected from the shop, as though he had been thrown.

He looked back at the shop, muttered something angrily under his breath, and stood up. When he saw the Titans, his face paled. He then ran away screaming like a little girl.

"I'll get it," said Raven apathetically. "Why don't you guys check out what's inside the coffee place that made him leave. This shouldn't take long. I'll meet you guys back here in a few minutes."

"I shall assist you, in case you are in need of… assistance," said Starfire.

They set off towards the alleyway where Dr. Light had gone.

"So, should we check out the coffee place?" said Cy.

"Might as well," said BB. "We've got nothing better to do until the girls get back."

"Actually, I want to see who (or what) was able to take care of Dr. Light with such… aptitude."

"Maybe this coffee place is run by mutant aliens from the center of the Earth-"

"Or they could just be two shopkeepers who know how to take care of a pathetic villain-wannabe," said Raven, turning up suddenly. "We took Light to jail. Starfire is sorting stuff out with the police, she'll be here soon," answering Robin's gaze which clearly was asking where his girlfriend was.

"So, if all that happened was Light trying to hold up a coffee joint, then why did a bank robbery alarm go off?" asked Cyborg.

"Well, if there was any serious fighting, the alarms might have been activated because those two buildings are pretty close together," Robin answered.

"Makes sense," Beast Boy muttered.

"So, why don't we go into the… Java Hut?" said Raven, looking up at the blaring neon sign.

The rest of the Titans agreed, and they entered the shop.

Little did they know, this was no ordinary coffee joint.


	3. No Ordinary Coffee Joint

can u post ti when u have the time:) thanx:)

HI, everyone! Just checking to see that you haven't died of boredom yet! A million thanks to World of Nightmares for helping get this story up and for everything else! Thanks to World of Nightmares (Again!) and ravengal for being the only people to review to my other story! WHOO HOO! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Ok, well I got more reviews, so thank you to all of the freakin' awesome people who did so! You guys rock! Here's the next chapter, in which you get to find out what is in the Java Hut!

Chapter Three: No Ordinary Coffee Joint

As the Titans walked into the Java Hut, they felt a sense of foreboding. Like something really weird was going to happen in here. Like there were freaks in there or something crazy like that.

As they got in, they realized that it was just your average all-nite-tiki-themed coffee joint. The two clerks were bent over the counter (which had beach grass attached to it). They appeared to both be girls… and playing some kind of hand game that involved… plastic cups.

Robin, for some reason slightly afraid of the two, walked up to them and said, "Can I ask you a few questions about the guy who just left here?"

The two girls looked up, and suddenly looked dazzled.

"Our first customer in _forever_!" one exclaimed happily. She had honey-blonde hair and electric blue eyes.

The other, another honey-blonde, but with dark midnight-blue eyes, said, "Let's not try to scare it away. _Act normal,_" she ended in a whisper.

They both looked around nervously, and stood up straighter.

"So," Robin said, most definitely terrified out of his wits now, "did you see the guy with the light bulb on his head?"

"Yes," said the electric-blue-eyed one. "He's kind of hard to miss, isn't he?"

"You said it S," said the midnight-blue eyed girl.

"So, you did see him," said Robin.

"Well, I guess you could say that," said the girl with the midnight blue eyes.

"What do you mean by that N?" said the girl with electric blue eyes who will from now on be addressed by the name that the midnight-blue eyed girl used: S. "Of course we saw him. We beat him up and threw him out."

N (the midnight-blue eyed girl) nodded in agreement.

"Are you telling me that you guys took out Dr. Light single-handedly?" asked Robin, curiosity now overriding his fear.

"Yep," they said simultaneously.

"Wow," said Robin.

Suddenly, Starfire came up to Robin's side, closely followed by Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg.

"Starfire! You're back!" said Robin in relief.

"Yes. I took the Dr. Light to jail, where the police put him in the straight jacket," said Starfire airily. "Does this location carry mustard lattes?" Starfire asked, turning to N and S.

"Heck yeah, it does!" said N. "I knew we bought eighty boxes of mustard flavoring for a reason!"

"Hurray!" said Starfire. "I shall order seven of these tangy yet creamy delights!"

"OKAY!" said S.

The two of them went back into the back to make the seven "tangy yet creamy delights."

"They are quite delightful people!" said Starfire excitedly.

"Yeah, but did any of you dudes notice that they were both like, twelve?" said BB.

"Is it legal for twelve year olds to be working?" asked Cyborg.

"I don't know… what I'm more concerned about is the fact that they were able to beat up and throw out Dr. Light without any trouble at all," said Robin in a low voice.

"Perhaps there is… more to them than meets the eye?" said Starfire slowly.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," said Robin.

"So what do we do about it? We have two super-powered girls who could be a threat hanging around un-checked," said Raven sensibly. "Should we keep tabs on them, or what?"

"Well, they might not have super powers. They could just be good fighters," said Cyborg. "If they _are_ only twelve and have jobs, it might mean that they live on the streets. And when you live on the streets, you need a way to defend yourself."

"Even so…" said Robin, "we need to figure out if they are a threat or not. We'll wait for Star's lattes, and ask them a few questions."

This seemed to be the only plan that they could come up with, so they all sat there as the smell of mustard wafted to the front of the store.


	4. Well, I Never!

Thank you to all of the awesome people who read and reviewed to my stories!

Chapter Four: Well, I Never!

Finally, the two clerks came back with Starfire's seven mustard-flavored lattes.

"That comes to… $10.50," said S, who seemed to be good at math.

"So…" started Robin, "what are you guys doing working in a coffee place at this time of night? Isn't it kind of late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," said N, who seemed to be good with words. "What are you guys doing in a coffee shop at this time of night? Isn't it kind of late?"

"Well, I…" said Robin, trailing off, clearly baffled by this come back.

"Do you two have super powers?" said Raven in a blunt manner.

The two glanced at each other nervously for a split second, but then looked back at the Titans confidently.

"What would make you think that?" said N coolly.

"The fact that you two were able to take on Dr. Light single-handedly and come away completely unscathed," Raven shot back quickly.

"Well…" started S, who though was not as good at quick thinking as N, was clearly sharp-witted, "Dr. Light is a pretty pathetic excuse for a villain. We knew that we could take him on, so we just decided to save you guys some time."

"But that's kind of dangerous, dudes," said Beast Boy. "Since you guys are just innocent civilians-"

"But what makes you think that we're just innocent civilians?" N cut him off.

"To suggest that would suggest that you are more than innocent civilians," said Raven.

"Well I never…" said S, clearly starting to get nervous now. She obviously wanted to get out of there, and fast. The way her eyes darted toward the exit illustrated this very clearly. "The Java Hut is now closed."

"But it's an all-nite coffee place!" said BB in protest. "It's still night time! You can't close up-"

"Oh, yes we can," said N, catching on to S's plan. "This is an all-_nite _coffee place."

"But-" Beast Boy started.

"Well, it is…" S paused to consult her watch, "four AM. Technically, it's morning now, and this is an all-_nite_ coffee place, not an all _morning_ coffee place. So if you want to come back tomorrow night, you're welcome to do so. But now the Java Hut is closed." There was a note of finality in her voice.

"Well, before you close up shop, don't you have to clear up and stuff?" said Beast Boy. "My manager was really strict about that."

"Oh, erm…" S and N could not deny that the place needed tidying. S said, "Well, we'll clean up and you guys can show yourselves out."

"Okay," said Robin. "But do you mind if we take a look around the place first? I've never been to a tiki-themed coffee place before."

"Well, okay. But don't hang around for too long," said S.

The Titans ambled toward the front of the shop as S and N frantically cleaned up the counters and tables. They took in everything, and they al knew that Cyborg was recording everything with his cy-eye.

Suddenly, there was a sound like a crash of lightning. All of the lights went out. Starfire held up her glowing-green hand as a source of light. The Titans turned around, and saw that S and N were gone.

"Where'd they go?" said Beast Boy incredulously.

"Where ever they went, something tells me that they didn't go naturally," said Raven in a quiet voice.

"Well, there's not much we can do about it now, since they didn't do anything wrong. Maybe we'll look into it tomorrow if we have some spare time," said Robin.

As the Titans walked toward the front of the place, something caught Starfire's eye.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's the employee of the month award," said BB quickly.

"Those two… seem to have won recently. Their picture is up here. Perhaps their names will be on it," Starfire said.

Sure enough, under the picture of the two blondes was some writing.

"Can I have a little more light here, Star?" said Robin as he got closer to the poster.

As she held her alight hand next to the paper, the Titans could see that the original names printed underneath the photo had been scribbled over with Sharpie. Someone had scrawled two new names beneath it.

"Shadow and Nightmare," whispered Starfire.


	5. NO! NOT A CHAPTER WITH AQUALOSER IN IT!

Thanks to all of the totally awesome people who have read and reviewed this story! You guys keep me running… erm, writing! Well, sorry this update took so long! PLEASE forgive me! But its here now, so enjoy!

Chapter Five: NO! NOT A CHAPTER WITH AQUALOSER IN IT!

After the night's confusing events, anything that all of the Titans wanted to do was go back to the Tower and get some sleep. So that's what they did. But not everyone slept as well as others…

Robin had stayed up after everyone else searching the internet for any possible leads to the mysterious "Shadow and Nightmare."

Starfire had gone straight to sleep and dreamt of mustard lattes.

Cyborg had wondered why two kids were working in a coffee place, but in the end he simply powered down for the night…erm, morning.

Raven had pondered all of the unanswered questions until it hurt to think, collapsing in a haze of tiredness.

Beast Boy had gone straight to sleep, and in the morning he thought that he had bad dreams, but couldn't remember what about. So when he was walking to the main room for the first meal of the day, he was still trying to figure out what he had dreamed about.

He was so distracted by this that he walked straight into Raven.

She looked straight at him, and he remembered what the dream had been about.

_They were sitting on the rock outside of the T-Tower, talking quietly. She suddenly fell in, and he jumped in after her to save her…but when he went under, he couldn't find her. Anywhere. He was seriously starting to panic, so he put his head out of the water and screamed her name…_

"_RAVEN!"_

_His voice echoed across the water, but no one answered. Suddenly, he heard cheering._

_Aqualad was pulling her out of the water, but she was completely fine. _

_Aqualad asked her if she was going to thank him, or was he going to have to giver her some "mouth to mouth resuscitation?" _

_As their lips touched…_

When Beast Boy had awoke, and felt like screaming.

He realized that Raven had been walking alongside him as he went to the main room. She had once again, been talking to him without him even trying to comprehend it…

Suddenly, he blurted out, "Do you like Aqualad?"

She stopped, and looked at him again, fairly surprised.

"Of course. He's one of my friends," she said.

This answer didn't suit BB at all. "I mean, do you _like him_ like him?" he asked.

"Why, are you going to ask him out or something? Didn't think you were that kind of person," she said calmly.

"Wait-wha? Oh, I get it real funny, Raven. Good one," he said, only slightly ticked off, but more amused and awe-struck by her…

"No. I don't like him. But I think Starfire might…" they both had a laugh about that.

"Robin's not gonna be too happy about that, is he?" Beast Boy laughed.

They walked into the main room they were still talking and laughing amicably.

"What's up with you two? Usually you're picking on each other in the morning," said Cyborg.

"I agree…" said Starfire. "Is it some sort of holiday? Ceasefire Day, perhaps?" (AN- that basically means truce day) (AN- not a real holiday)

"Uhh… not that I know of… Beast Boy just said something funny," Raven said.

Robin's mouth fell open, Starfire gasped, Cyborg fell out of his chair, and BB laughed at their reactions.

"You think that- _you think that-_ you think that Beast Boy is funny?" Cyborg stuttered in complete unbelief. "What, is it the end of the world again or something?"

"No, not that I know of," said Raven.

"Ok…" said Robin. "Now that you guys are done _arguing,_ (he gave them both sharp looks)I thought that today we could go back to the Java Hut and possibly get some info about the supposed 'Shadow and Nightmare'."

"Sounds good to me," said Cyborg. The rest of the Titans nodded in agreement.

After everyone was done breakfast, they all piled into the T-Car, and drove downtown to 21st Street.


	6. Of Coffee Joints That Were Never Really

Thanks to all of the totally awesome people who reviewed. Thanks to ravengal and World of Nightmares, both big helpers with my story.

Chapter Six: Of Coffee Joints That Were Never Really There

When the Titans got to where the Java Hut had been, they thought that they were at the wrong place. It wasn't the place they had been last night… erm, this morning; that was for sure. It wasn't tiki-themed _or_ called the Java Hut. It was your ordinary, everyday, on every corner MoonBucks.

"Are you sure we're at the right place?" said Robin. "This doesn't look like where we were earlier."

"I'm _sure_ we're at the right place. This is the only place in town that's called 21st Street, and that same jewelry store is right next door," said Cyborg.

"Then where's the Java Hut?" said Starfire quietly.

As the Titans walked in, everyone stared. The place was filled with adults dressed in expensive suits enjoying their daily brew and typing on laptops.

"Maybe we should ask the girl behind the counter about the place," suggested Raven.

Everyone looked at Robin.

"Okay, okay, I'll go…" he muttered, turning toward the counter on which Shadow and Nightmare had played the cup game just hours before.

"Excuse me," he said politely when he got to the front of the line. "Do you know if this place has always been a MoonBucks? Was it here last night?"

The girl, who had dark brown hair at the top and light brown hair at the bottom, looked at him like he was crazy. She had icy blue eyes and wore a scowl, as if she'd rather be anywhere but here.

"Umm… this place has been here for like five years," she said in an annoyed tone.

"But was it here _last night_?" asked Robin slowly.

"Are you some kind of idiot? Of _course_ it was here last night. It's been here for five years." She was clearly getting ticked off now.

"Okay…" said Robin. Thinking of a different approach, he asked, "Are there two girls who worked here who are named Shadow and Nightmare? I heard that they… that they got employee of the month." _That sounded so much more convincing in my head…_he thought.

"_Shadow and Nightmare_? What kind of names are _those_?" she scoffed.

"Okay… Lavender," he said, looking at her name tag. "I really need you to help me out here… this is important…"

Suddenly, a man who looked like her supervisor came up and started yelling at her.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT HOLDING UP THE LINE WHILE YOU MESS AROUND?" he bellowed. "YOU'RE FIRED!"

"YOU CAN'T FIRE ME, I QUIT!" she screamed back. Rounding on Robin, she shrieked at him, "THANKS A LOT! YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS JUST COST ME MY JOB!"

The room had gone completely silent.

She stormed out, pushing a few people out of her way.

The talking started up again, and a guy came to the counter.

"Are you going to order something, or are you just going to get me fired, too?" he asked.


	7. New Hatreds, Not So New Enemies

Chapter Seven: New Hatreds, Not So New Enemies

Lavender walked into the street, and screamed in anger. She didn't care if people stared. She was just so mad. Tears filled her icy blue eyes, and she bent her head, so that her hair (which was dark and light brown) fell into her eyes.

She needed to find a new job, and fast. She was in debt, badly in need of cash. She was desperate.

And she had a new found hatred of the Teen Titans.

She walked into an alley, and leaned against the wall. Suddenly, a man came out of nowhere. She backed up to the end of the deserted alleyway as fear filled her… she remembered a flash of blinding light… and then the pain of a needle stabbing into her spin… so much pain… then nothing else.

The man laughed. Like her, the man had a British accent. But unlike her, he wore an eye patch, had white hair and beard, and was completely evil.

Slade.

Back at the Tower…

"So did that not really happen last night? ... this morning, I mean…" Robin muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. He was pacing around the main room, something he usually only did if there was something major going on. Although this was weird, the rest of the Titans didn't think that it was that important.

"Unless we were all dreaming or hallucinating…" said Beast Boy.

"Then it definitely happened," said Raven finally.

"Where do we go from here?" Robin muttered.

"Dude, chill," said BB. "It's not that important, is-"

"It's important, all right. Robin's pacing. Can't you see that?" said Cyborg. "Or at least it is to him, so we have to deal with it."

"I agree with Cyborg," said Starfire. "If it is important to Robin, it is important to me." She walked over to him and put her arm on his shoulder. He stopped pacing, and looked at her thoughtfully… Until…

_WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!_

"TITANS- GO!" yelled Robin.

They all rushed out to the T-Car and jumped in as Robin got the coordinates of the trouble on his communicator.

He gasped, and silently held it up.

21st Street.

Cyborg nearly totaled the car in shock.


	8. Things That Shouldn’t Be Happening

I AM SOOOO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME SOOO LONG TO UPDATE! THIS ONE'S EXTRA-LONG TO MAKE UP FOR IT!

Chapter Eight: Things That Shouldn't Be Happening

As the Titans rushed to the scene of the crime, they all expected to see Shadow and Nightmare again, probably being the ones who had caused the trouble.

"I always knew that those two were no good…" muttered Cyborg as sped along the road.

When they got there, they were a bit surprised. They didn't see who they had expected, but another old friend.

It was Lavender, the girl from MoonBucks.

Except, there were ten of her.

And she…erm, they were totaling the street.

And they all seemed to have some kind of super power.

"Is this some kind of optical illusion?" said Raven.

Her question was answered when one of them saw the Titans, and came over and picked Robin up as if he were a feather, and threw him into the window of the jewelry store. Apparently, they were all as real as them.

"GO!" he yelled as he came back out of the shattered window.

(AN: from this point on in this chapter, it will no longer be in chronological order. It will tell what happened to each Titan after Robin yelled "GO!" So, first I'll tell what happened to Robin, then Starfire, and so on and so forth. So… here goes.)

Each Titan took on two of the girls.

Robin kept battling with the super-strong one that had thrown him, as well as another who seemed to be able to run and throw punches at super-speed. He took out his bar and yelled, "Try and keep up!" He led them through the park until they came to a place where the road was being paved. There, Robin jumped over the road, but the others didn't seem to get it. They were stuck in the tar that glistened in the morning sun, and the more they struggled, the more imbedded in the tar they became.

His first instinct was to yell, 'Catch ya later!' and let the police take care of them. But the two girls looked like they were in immense pain… when suddenly he realized that there were still some things that he wanted to know about the girl…s.

Robin stood there awhile, puzzled by all of the unanswered questions, studying the two of them, looking for some answers in their faces.

How had she been able to multiply herself? Something told him that she didn't do this to herself. He was almost certain that she had had help.

But from who?

Suddenly, he got an idea. He was pretty sure that he was right.

I'm quite sorry to say that he was.

* * *

Cyborg had quite a "fun" time with the two that he was trying to subdue. One seemed to be able to create electric currents, and the other had control over water. They made quite the double duo. One would get something wet, the other would electrocute it to a crisp—they were coming for him! They were—

Cyborg was suddenly drenched, and then—

BOOM!

Lightning seemed to strike, and he fell over with a yell of agony, completely KO'd.

He would be out for a while.

* * *

Starfire was also having some trouble. The two that she was fighting were proving rather hard to fight… she hit them each a number of time with her starbolts, but it didn't seem to faze them. One of the girls she was fighting was able to shoot lasers out of her hands, the other seemed to be able to heal herself…

Starfire heard Cyborg's scream of pain, and turned to see what had happened.

"Friend Cyborg-" she started.

One of the lasers (somehow magnified with a mirror that the healer had pulled out) hit Starfire in the back.

She sank to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

In comparison to the other Titans, Raven was doing quite well. Except for the fact that one of her enemies had her in a headlock from her own magic, and but the other seemed to be under control. She was standing there apathetically, as if she didn't care what happened to the others.

The grip around her neck tightened- the one that wasn't under control seemed to have some form of telekinesis- she could mimic other peoples' powers.

She could feel the lack of air getting to her… she was losing consciousness… everything was going dark…until…a roar of rage that seemed almost inhuman echoed through the street, scaring the force that was holding her and bringing her back to her senses… almost. The lack of air for so long caused Raven to sink to the ground and faint.

* * *

Beast Boy had a different type of enemy. One of the girls was made of rubber- she could stretch and bend to diffuse his attacks no matter what form he took… the other had the ability to read minds and was yelling out his thoughts for the world to hear.

She was yelling all of his weaknesses, insults that his thoughts gave away, and stuff about his ex girlfriend. He just tuned out and focused on subduing her and her partner in crime.

Suddenly, something told him that something was wrong. Maybe it was his animal's instinct. Maybe it was the fact that there was a collective gasp from the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the fight. But for whatever reason that had made him do it, he turned around, and what he saw sent a ripple of anger through his mind.

Raven was being killed by her own powers!

He rushed over, completely abandoning the fight. That's when his anger got the better of him. The Beast emerged.

He roared, and the girl who was using Raven's powers against her lost her concentration in fear. Raven dropped to the ground, unconscious.

His rage subsided, and the Beast was gone, but BB didn't turn back into a human. He turned into a snake, and slithered toward the girl until—

The other one stepped on his head. He turned back into a human, completely knocked out.

* * *

(AN- at this point the whole non-sequential thing ends, and it will now be told in chronological order)

Robin stepped back into the street, where he was shocked to see that his team had been unable to subdue the girl. His team mates were all unconscious. Suddenly, he heard an angry noise. He turned around to see all ten of the girls (including the two who were now covered in tar) glaring at him. He felt the bottom of his stomach drop out as he backed up against the wall…

A yell echoed through the street.

Two figures landed unexpectedly in the middle of the street.

"WE'RE BACK!" yelled Shadow and Nightmare triumphantly.

The ten girls looked at each other, baffled.

Shadow and Nightmare jumped into action.

Shadow immediately took it up with the girl who had telepathy.

"Let's see what's inside of your mind!" yelled the telepath. Shadow countered by throwing what seemed to be a rope made of electric blue plasma at her. It wrapped around her, leaving her immobile.

Nightmare took it up with the tar-covered ones. Out of nowhere, she dropped a whole bunch of feathers on them- and they stuck.

"HA HA! CHICKENS!" she yelled.

And so it went in this way. The two of them teamed up to beat the one who could use other peoples' powers. Suddenly, there was something that made them stop…

A girl stumbled out of the crowd and sank to her knees, screaming in agony. It was just after Shadow had dealt a particularly nasty blow to the one who could borrow powers.

The two of them stared as the intensity of her screaming heightened. As her screaming reached its peak, all of the girls seemed to be sucked into her. Lavender stood to face Shadow and Nightmare when suddenly a hand from the crowd grabbed her and pulled her away. She seemed to melt into thin air, she had disappeared so quickly.

The entire time, Robin had been watching.

Shadow and Nightmare looked at him, perhaps waiting for directions.

"I could've taken those two down by myself!" he yelled, trying to keep some dignity to his name.

During the whole sucking-up-of-the-clones thing, the other Titans had been coming to. BB helped Raven up, and Cyborg and Starfire went over to Robin.

"What happened here?" Robin asked incredulously.

"We just did what we came to do," said Shadow.

"Jedi Master House will be wanting us- we have class," Nightmare said suddenly.

"You're right!" said Shadow. "We have to get there!"

A bolt of lightning came down and struck them, and they were gone


	9. Playing hard to get

Hey y'all! How goes it? Ok, I realize that the last chapter had some MAJOR suckiness problems (wtf was I thinking?) but anyhoo, I felt like updating again cause I felt like it! MWAHAHHAA! Use that as reasoning! Oh, yeah, and up until now, I was using a negative in each of the chapter titles. I don't think I'm gonna do that any more, its getting harder. Congrats to anyone who figured that out!

Chapter Nine: Playing hard to get

After the Titans had trudged home exhausted after combing the city for hours looking for Lavender, all any of them wanted to do was to get some rest. After all, they had only gotten about two hours of sleep the previous night… erm, morning. Their exhaustion may have contributed to their loss.

The next morning…

"Ok, team," said Robin as they were finishing up breakfast. "Today I think that we should look for Nightmare and Shadow-"

As if on cue, the alarm went off.

_WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!_

"The Hive Five have attacked!" Robin yelled. "Titans, GO!"

They rushed to the scene of the crime, which thankfully _wasn't _21st Street. They were getting rather tired of that place.

But just because they weren't at 21st Street didn't mean that they wouldn't see some familiar faces!

Familiar faces… doing _their_ job!

Shadow and Nightmare had beat them to the scene of the crime… and were beating the crud out of the Hive Five! They had almost been defeated when…

Mammoth hurled a flaming bus that landed on Shadow.

Nightmare either didn't seem to notice or care that a flaming bus had just been thrown on her partner. She finished tying up the Hive and looked around expectantly for her friend. Of course, emergency teams had already taken Shadow to the ER…

At the ER (NOT THE SHOW!)…

The Titans had decided to follow the ambulance, just to see what was going to happen…

In the ER, doctors surrounded the girl, who they could now see was covered in nasty-looking black burns and was seemingly knocked out.

Suddenly, she got up and tried to get away. But the nurse cried, "You should be dead! Not walking! LIE DOWN!"

"But I'm fine," said Shadow calmly. The Titans realized that she was right. The burns were really just ash. She wiped them off her face as calmly as if they were spa lotion.

"Whaaa?" said Cyborg.

Suddenly, Nightmare walked in.

"THERE you are!" she said. "I was starting to think that Mammoth was too much for you!"

"As if!" Shadow answered disdainfully.

"Umm… no offense, but why aren't you dead?" said Raven.

"'CAUSE I'M _SHADOW_!" said Shadow.

"Healing powers," said Nightmare, making a face that clearly said, _duh_. "I thought that Beast Boy was supposed to be the stupid one…"

"HEY!" said BB.

"Ok, well, I think that our business here is done," said Shadow. She and Nightmare headed for the door.

The Titans followed them.

"Y'know, when people LEAVE you're not supposed ta follow them. That's the whole point," said Shadow.

"Yeah, but dudes, I think you guys _owe_ us," Beast Boy said.

"For what? Being better than you?" Nightmare laughed.

"No. what you guys owe us is _answers_," said Robin, in the kind of voice that no one likes to disagree with.

"Oh. So _that's_ what you want," said Shadow.

"It's too bad that that stuff is for us to know and for you guys to never find out," said Nightmare.

"I'm willing to offer you guys a place on this team," said Robin. "If you prove yourselves trustworthy, that is."

"We'll think about it," said Shadow after glancing at Nightmare quickly.

"Ok," said Robin, holding up two communicators with T's on them. "Be at Titans Tower tomorrow at noon if you decide to take up our offer. Be in some kind of costume… and be ready to be tested."

"Ok," said Shadow. Nightmare was staring with eyes as large as saucers at the communicators. She seemed to be drooling slightly.

"But-" Nightmare started, but Shadow pulled her away.

"We'll see you tomorrow… hopefully," said Shadow as she dragged Nightmare away.

Back at the Tower…

"ARE YOU FREAKIN' CRAZY? WE DON'T EVEN KNOW THEM!" shouted Cyborg.

"We don't know them… yet. They seem like they'd be a good addition to the team," said Robin evenly.

"But… what if…" Raven started.

"We'll see if they're trustworthy tomorrow. What's the worst that could happen if they join the team? At worst, we'll just get two great people on our side. At best, we'll get two great people and two good friends," said Robin.

"Perhaps Robin is right…" said Starfire.

"No. the worst that could happen is that we have another Terra incident," said Raven without thinking.

Everyone looked at Beast Boy, waiting for his reaction.

He shrugged.

"So it's agreed. We'll at least give them a chance," said Robin.

At Shadow and Nightmare's HQ…

"Why didn't you just take the offer!" said Nightmare angrily.

"It's called playing hard to get," said Shadow.

"Oh, I see the plan now," said Nightmare, an evil grin coming over her face.

They both laughed monotically as lightning flashed outside.


	10. Rude Awakenings

A HUGE thank you goes out to all the readers and reviewers of this story. And an even HUGER thank you goes out to World of Nightmares. This could never be posted without her!

Chapter Ten: Rude Awakenings

The next morning, Starfire was up early. Like, five AM early. And she was cleaning, of all things.

Well, more accurately, she was cleaning all things.

No matter where they were.

And as Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, or Robin will tell you, waking up with Star right in your face is downright scary. (The lime green eyes and super-waxed brows might have something to do with that… just maybe…)

But Starfire found that standing over someone until they woke up was easier (or at least, it worked better) than shouting (coughBeastBoycough)

The whole waking people up as she cleaned thing started when she ventured into the grimy depths of… DUNNN DUNNNN- Beast Boy's room.

"Beast Boy," she whispered. "Please wake up. We must do the cleaning of spring in preparation for Shadow and Nightmare's visit to the Tower."

The changeling didn't stir.

"Beast Boy," she said a little louder. "Please awaken. I shall need all the assistance I can get when I do the tidying-up."

Still nothing.

So she started to yell.

"BEAST BOY! PLEASE WAKE UP!"

He was still dead asleep.

So she stood over him angrily, about to shake him awake when-

"AHHHHHHH!"

Beast Boy awoke with a start and fell off of his bed.

"DUUUUUUDE, what is your problem?" he squeaked.  
"I am sorry, Beast Boy. Please do not be angry with me. But we must make the Tower presentable for when the possible new recruits arrive."

"But if they decide to join and live here, then shouldn't they see Titans Tower the way that it usually is?"

"Yes, but I think that it would be a, what is the phrase again? Nice gesture, I believe,"

"OK, you can clean the rest of the Tower, but my room stays the way it is. I mean, its not like its ever going to be clean, right? I mean, like, ever. Besides, how am I supposed to find anything if its all neat and where it belongs?"

"I guess you are correct," said Starfire, sighing. "Well, I guess I shall go awaken the others-"

"OK, Star, you do that…" said Beast Boy, getting back in his bed and falling asleep immediately.

"OK, I shall simply ask the others for help!" said Starfire confidently, walking down the hall to Raven's room. When she got there, she knocked, but there was no answer. So, she did a brave yet very, very stupid thing.

She entered.

"Raven?" Starfire said, whispering again. "Are you awake-"

The second she had stepped on the threshold of her room, Raven woke up. Apparently not realizing who she was, she enclosed Starfire's neck in a force field of dark energy.

"Raven!" Starfire gasped through the strangling thing around her neck.

Suddenly, as if she had realized who she was strangling, Raven let Starfire go.

"Starfire- I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to-" Raven said quickly.

"It is ok! I am sure that if that had happened to me, I would have done the same thing!" said Star, returning to her normal cheery voice, but rubbing her throat all the same.

"It's just that…" Raven started in an unsure voice.

"What is it, friend?" said Star, now with concern in her voice.

"I just thought that… maybe Titans Tower was under attack again or something… I had a vision about it last night…"

"Is this bad? Do your… visions usually come to pass?"

"Sorry… I guess I was just dreaming…"

"As I said before, I forgive you!" said Starfire.

"Um… not to be rude or anything," said Raven quickly, "but why are you up so early?"

"Oh, I was just thinking that perhaps we should be cleaning the Tower in which we live for when the two possible new Titans arrive!" Starfire said.

"OK…" said Raven. "You're excited about this, aren't you?"

"Yes! Very excited! In fact, I am so excited that I could not fall asleep last night, so I remedied the problem by drinking several glasses of the bitter liquid that Robin drinks every morning, and I feel very energetic!"

"Well… that would explain a lot…" Raven muttered. However, she also still seemed a little guilty for trying to murder her best friend, so she said, "Ok… I'll go get started on the dishes."

Raven pulled on her cloak and walked out of her room.

Starfire left, too. Raven's room was a little scary, especially since it was still dark out.

Onto Cyborg's room.

There she woke Cyborg. He reluctantly got up… then decided to go wax the T-Car.

"If I'm gonna be up, why not do something worthwhile?" he said.

So Starfire went to Robin's room, to find that he was not there.

He was on the roof, staring over the water as the sun rose.

"Why are you up so early?" he asked.

"I thought that I should prepare the Tower for the arrival of our guests…" she said.

"Is everyone else up?"

"Yes,"

"Then why don't we go down and get breakfast started?"

The two walked down to the main room, where Raven had finished the dishes and was heading back to her room.

"So…" said Robin after an awkward silence had filled the room for a few moments. "What should we make for breakfast?"

* * *

Many miles away…

At Shadow and Nightmare's HQ…

"So… are you ready?" asked Shadow.

"I'm ready…" said Nightmare.

They both grinned evilly and laughed monotically as they went out into the foggy morning.


	11. A New Foe

An enormous thanks goes out to all who made this story possible. To Ravengal, I have this to say: I told you she'd be back (the name is in here!). And to World of Nightmares: I am eternally indebted to

Chapter Eleven: A New Foe

Titans Tower.

Noon.

Shadow and Nightmare should be here any minute.

Until…

WOOP WOOP WOOP!

"Titans! Trouble!" shouted Robin.

"Where?" shouted BB.

"The Financial District!" he yelled back as he led them to the scene of the crime.

There, they saw a familiar face as well as a not-so-familiar one.

Lavender was there, her many clones attacking an armored truck. She seemed to have trained her minions since her last encounter with the Titans, and they (the minions, or clones or whatever you want to call them) were all addressing her as Lagnevar. (pronounced LAG-NEVAHR) She also had a snazzy new outfit- it was icy blue, to match her eyes, and had an oddly familiar 'S' on it. It was Slade's mark.

There was a man standing next to her. He was in his late teens, maybe 19 or so, about a year or two older than her. He had slicked back black hair, and he wore a leather jacket and jeans. Underneath the jacket there was a white t-shirt, with the same 'S' emblem on it. Finally, he was wearing sunglasses. Honestly, he looked a bit like a motorcycle gang leader.

"Who's the new dude?" BB asked.

The guy rounded on them, as a smirk spread across his face.

"Don't you know the next great super-villain when you see him?" he said. "I am the Generator! MUAHAHAHA!"

"Should we give the message to these so-called heroes?" said Lagnevar in a wicked voice.

"Well, that's what we're here for," said the Generator back, with an evil grin to match hers.

"What are you talking about, dude?" Beast Boy yelled incredulously.

"Well, perhaps if you prove yourselves worthy of our time- and our master's time- we'll tell you sorry excuses for heroes!"

"BRING IT ON!" bellowed Cy.

The two villains charged at the Teen Titans.

"TITANS, GO!" yelled Robin.

After a few moments of fierce, confused fighting (mostly involving Lagnevar's many clones) an elephant flew out of nowhere.

Literally, it was flying. It had little wings and everything. And there was a not-so-friendly-looking thing attached to its underside.

A bomb, counting down with seconds until its detonation.

Raven turned around as its giant shadow loomed over her. She didn't have time to protect herself. It landed on top of her.

There was a muffled explosion.

"RAVEN!" came the terrified voice of the green Titan.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Tower… 

Shadow and Nightmare had shown up, only a bit fashionably late. But they had been waiting on the roof for the past several minutes.

"So… you're sure that this is where we're supposed to be?" said Nightmare for the seventh time.

"I'm sure…" Shadow answered back for the seventh time.

"Where could they-?" Nightmare started, but she was cut off by the sound of an explosion coming from downtown. Muffled, but it was an explosion no less.

"Well, that could be it…" said N sarcastically.  
"Let's go."

So they jumped into a portal conjured up by Shadow and were off to the scene of the crime.


	12. You Can’t Kill the Immortals!

Thanks to everyone who helps this story be- from World of Nightmares to all of my readers and reviewers. Note: this chapter focuses a bit more on BB's feelings for Raven, and y'all were asking for fluff, but I don't really do that, but this is a bit more about his feelings are developing for her, so this is probably as close as this story will veer to the dangerous road of fluff… so, enjoy. The sequel will probably be a bit more fluffy, but telling y'all why would give away the ending of this one! So, enjoy, and for you fluff-seekers, well, you'll get a teeny tiny bit of it here… for you fluff-haters, umm… its really not real fluff, so… umm, well, I'm just confusing myself here, so on with the chapter!

Chapter Twelve: You Can't Kill the Immortals!

Shadow and Nightmare teleported to the Financial District at just the moment that Beast Boy screamed her name again.

"RAVEN!" he screamed with such intensity that (if he had been someone who had cared about their voice, such as a singer) he could have felt the damage to it. But he didn't seem to even realize what he was doing.

Suddenly, Lagnevar's telepathic minion came up behind him. He could hear her malicious voice in his head, her thoughts disrupting his…

Doesss it hurt…knowing that the one you cared about most will never know? Her eyes narrowed as she grinned wickedly.

He turned to face her, but she kept up the mind games… her mind-reading had led her to his weakness: his friends, and how deeply he cared for them. Most particularly the one with purple hair and eyes…

You're a bloody idiot…she said, her voice inside his head again… you hesitated, and you missed your chance. She's gone now… ha-ha…

He could hardly take this…

And he lost it.

He transformed into the Beast, and charged at her.

But she said one more thing, one thing that made him become a human again, and sink to his knees in anguish, as waves of pain washed over him.

Doess it hurt… that all of the ones you have ever loved have died? Does it hurt… that hse hated you?

She was still grinning in that horrid way, until…

A giant black claw came up from the ground and wrapped around her in a painful-looking grip. It pulled her down, and she disappeared just before she was completely immersed in the ground, probably re-aligning herself into Lagnevar…

A giant bird came up from the depths of the earth and materialized into Raven. There were a few scratches and cuts on her face, as well as a small burn hole in her cloak, but other than that, she looked completely unharmed.

"You think that's all it would take to beat me?" she said, although BB wasn't quite sure who she was talking to. He didn't really care though, because since the claw had appeared, he had been inwardly rejoicing.

For a split second, he could have sworn that she smiled at him. But the next moment he was sure that he had imagined it, because she looked as she usually did while in battle- alert and emotionless. But at the same time, she looked really nice. He was watching her, gazing into her eyes, until a voice brought him back to earth with an unpleasant bump.

"Um… are you OK? You look like you got hypnotized again," Raven said quietly.

"Uhhh…" he shook his head (as well as himself mentally) and laughed nervously. "Are you OK?"

"Yes…"

"C'MON! I NEED BACKUP OVER HERE!" yelled Robin suddenly, ending the moment the two had briefly shared.

"Well, that's what we're here for, innit?" said Shadow, rushing forward to help Robin fight the Generator.

Finally, Robin was able to figure out what his power was.

"Whatever he imagines becomes real!" Robin yelled to the rest of the heroes.

"Well, I guess that even if you're guessing, you're bound to get lucky every now and then!" the Generator yelled.

Suddenly, it seemed that Nightmare had a plan. She yelled something in an un-identifiable tongue to Shadow, who grinned and nodded. S motioned for the rest of the Titans to back away, and Robin nodded to the other Titans. She should at least get a chance to prove herself…

So she walked up to the Generator as if he were a harmless classmate. Robin's eyes widened, and he pulled out a few birdarangs (AN: is that how that's spelled?), and held them at the ready… just in case she needed backup.

"Soo…" she started. It was clear that she had something up her sleeve. Nightmare walked up and joined her.

The two glanced at each other, and Raven figured out what was going on.

"They're communicating telepathically. One of them must have that ability," she said in a low voice.

"Can you break into what their brainwaves?" Robin said out of the side of his mouth back.

"I can try…"

Suddenly, all of the Titans could hear exactly what the two of them were saying… erm, thinking. However, the Titans couldn't figure out who was talking, so they could just hear the conversation.

…we finish him off like that…one train of thought started.

'K, the other one finished.

"Soo…" Shadow said again, now using her real voice. "You must have to have a really big imagination to be able to use this power successfully…"

"Can you make anything?" Nightmare asked.

"Yeah," said the Generator, his voice becoming rather boastful. "Anything I can think of."

"Anything?" the two girls said simultaneously.

"Yes."

"Are you sure? 'Cause a lot of people think that they can do anything… and they usually end up being wrong," said Nightmare in a rather accusatory tone.

"Can we at least see what you can do?" said Shadow, with the polite air of a curious student.

"OK," he said.

"Can you create… a flyswatter so good that it swats flies on its own?" said Nightmare. She clearly had a large imagination of her own.

A large flyswatter appeared, and started swatting flies on its own accord.

"COOL!" Nightmare yelled.

"Ok… my turn…" Shadow began. "Can you make something that can keep Lagnevar from unleashing her clones?"

"Of course!" he said, creating a weird helmet-thing, as well as a special looking pair of handcuffs.

"Well, there's no way to tell if these things actually work," said Nightmare disdainfully, nudging them with her toe, as if they weren't worthy of her.

"Of course there's a way to test them! Try them on for size, Lagnevar!" he shouted.

"I'll do it!" Shadow volunteered. She picked them up, and walked over to Lagnevar, and started putting the helmet on her head.

"While Shadow's doing that, why don't you do one more thing. If you do this, I'll definitely believe you!" Nightmare said knowingly.

"Ok… just this one last thing, then…"

She whispered in his ear exactly what she wanted him to do, and a smirk spread over his face.

"Well, that's completely below me! There's no way I can't do that!" he said smugly.

"Prove it," said Nightmare.

He smirked again, and in a flash, a strange-looking helmet appeared at his feet. It had antennae sticking out of it. He picked it up, and held it out for her to see.

"So," she said, disdainful again. "That could be any random helmet. Prove to me that it works."

"Fine," he said exasperatedly. "But this is absolutely the last one."

"Ok, that's fine with me," she said coolly.

He put the helmet on, and a metal strap locked underneath his head. The antennae glowed, and then he smirked again.

"See? I told you that it would be completely simple to make a helmet that I can't get off and keeps me from using my powers! Now I showed you, so get it off me!"

"Y'know what? I don't really feel like doing that," said Nightmare nonchalantly.  
"What do you mean?" he said, his voice starting to sound just a bit nervous.

"Oh, look, here comes Shadow and Lagnevar…" said Nightmare, ignoring him.

Shadow and Lagnevar walked up, the latter of the two looking grumpy because of the helmet and handcuffs.

"Ok, now will you let us out?" said Lagnevar hopefully. "This thingy is messing up my totally awesome hair."

"Well, as I just told Mr. Idiot here, I'm not really feeling like letting you two go right now." said Nightmare, now grinning.

"W-what do you mean by that?" stuttered Lagnevar.

"Well, it means that the two of you have a one-way ticket to jail!" said Shadow, laughing.

The police showed up a few minutes later. Lagnevar and the Generator had been bickering the entire time.

But just as they were getting into the police car, Robin walked up to them and asked them a question.

"What was that message that you wanted to deliver, anyway?" he asked curiously to Lagnevar.

"Tell them-" she jerked her head in Shadow and Nightmare's general direction- "that if they join the Titans, Shadow is as good as dead."

At this point, Shadow walked over and laughed. "You can tell him right back that he should know by now that it's impossible to kill immortals!" she said with a laugh as the car pulled off.


	13. Off the Deep End

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: THERE IS A PETITION TO BRING BACK TEEN TITANS. I WILL BE POSTING THE LINK TO THE SITE ON MY PROFILE, SO PLEASE CHECK IT AND BRING BACK THE BEST SHOW EVERRRRR!  
Hello again! I am so happy to be writing again, I'm sorry it's been sooooo long since my last update! PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEEEEEE! PLEASE! Oh, and another important note about this story- Lagnevar is a character based on raven gal (srry, that should be one word, my stupid comp keeps making it two… I HATE YOU, WINDOWS! AND YOU, AOL LIMITED EDITION! SOOO SLOW! AHHHHH! Heh, heh, srry bout that one…anyway), she was the only person to review to my other story besides me! HAHA! And Lagnevar is just her name spelled backwards. Ok, that's all! Well, not really, just gonna warn u that there are lotsa author's notes in this one… ok, that's really all, I promise.  
Wait, never mind, I have one more thing that I think I've forgotten to do: I DON'T OWN TEEN TITANS. IF I DID, WOULD I HAVE CANCELLED IT? NO! I WOULD HAVE LET IT GO ON FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER… SIGN THE PETITION! I ALREDY HAVE, AND USE YOUR REAL NAME SO THAT THEY TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!

Chapter Thirteen: Off the Deep End

The Titans, along with Shadow and Nightmare, decided that they had earned a celebratory pizza outing.

After all, even Robin was all for it, and as he put it, "We would normally take you guys back to the Tower and put you through combat practice, to see you in action, but we just saw that, didn't we?"

So off to the pizza place they went. Shadow said she'd pay, and no one objected.

The seven of them entered the pizza place, and went to the Titans' usual table. (I'm talking about the one with the deck that looks like a slice of pepperoni pizza that they go to in Final Exam and that BB takes Terra grrr… so much hate for that dumb blonde… to in Things Change)

The seven super-powered people (that sounds lame, but I'm not gonna say teens, Shadow and Nightmare are only twelve, but the others don't know that… yet…) sat around and talked as they waited for the pizza to come.

However, they were suddenly interrupted when the song "Holiday" came out of nowhere…

_I say, hey!_

_Hear the sound of the pouring rain…_

_Comin' down like an Armageddon flame…_

Suddenly, Nightmare seemed to figure out what was happening, and pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. It wasn't in great shape; she seemed to have painted stuff onto it.

In one smooth motion, she flipped it open, looked at the screen, and held it up to her ear, saying, "Yeah?"

A very, very, loud voice came out of it… the phone was apparently on speaker.

"WE NEED BACK UP! LIKE, NOW!" was all that the voice on the other end said.

Apparently not expecting such a loud noise, Nightmare fell backward out of her chair with a squeak of "SPEAKERPHONE!"

As if this happened all the time, Shadow grabbed the phone while it was still in midair, pressed a button (turning off the speaker, of course!) and held it up to her ear, saying, "Where are you guys!"

She paused, listening carefully. Then, "But, how'd you get there?"

Another pause.

"YOU WHAT?" she yelped. "NO, WE CANNOT BE THERE IMMEDIATELY, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING--"

There was another pause, as a look of disgust came over Shadow's face.

"YEAH, SO WHAT IF THIS VERY IMPORTANT MEETING IS TAKING PLACE AT A PIZZA PARLOR?"

The look of disgust on her face deepened.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT, DOING WHAT YOU DID, NOT EXPECTING ANYTHING TO HAPPEN, AND THEN CALLING US, ASKING FOR HELP AND ACCUSING US OF--"

There was one final pause, and Shadow seemed to have lost it.

"FINE! WE'LL BE THERE, BUT YOU SERIOUSLY--"

She flipped the phone closed and passed it back to Nightmare, who was getting up and brushing off her outfit. (btw, did I ever give y'all a good description of them in their super-hero garb? Ah, I have apparently failed there… ok, expect one eventually…)

"I'm really, really sorry, but we're going to have to leave," said Shadow. "OUr two idiot friends have come by a… erm, spot of trouble, and they need our help."

"Aww… not again," Nightmare groaned. "They didn't…"

"Yes, they did, as a matter of fact, I can't believe the nerve of those two…" Shadow growled.

"Well, we best be going… we'll, um, see you later," said Nightmare, addressing the Titans.

Nightmare saluted Robin, and without further ado, went over (instead of using the door like a normal freak) and jumped off the deck of the pizza place.

Shadow was about to follow her, when Robin yelled, "Wait!"

Shadow turned back, one leg already over the railing. "Oh, yeah… I said I'd pay for pizza!" she said, running back over and slapping two twenties on the table. "Ok, I'm gonna go now--" she said, gesturing to the ledge.

"No-- wait, what I wanted to do was to give you these," said Robin, shoving two communicators into her hand. "We'll be in touch."

"'Kay," said Shadow, nodding.

She ran over and jumped off the side just like Nightmare.

"They're off the deep end…" muttered Raven as Robin sat back down


	14. The Boy No Wonder

Sign the petition to bring back Teen Titans today! The link is :  
the link won't post sogo to my profile please.

SIGN OR DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (the link is also on my profile)  
Ok, yea, the names I made up aren't anybody's real name (that I know of). So, if your name is L. Leigh Vader IV (the "L" stands for "Link." HAPPY, NIGHTMARE?) or Ashline J. Rainne (the J stands for Jean) drop me a line, cause you have an awesome name!  
Oh, yea, one more thing. The reason that it's morning where the Titans are (Jump City, California) and afternoon where Shadow and Nightmare are is cause of the whole time zones and time change thing. Since Shadow and Nightmare live on the east coast, and the Titans live on the west coast, it is always four hours later where Shadow and Nightmare live. So, in here, while its about 10 AM at the T-Tower, its about 2 PM in southern Maryland, where Shadow and Nightmare live.

Chapter Fourteen: The Boy No Wonder

"So… should we page them or something?" asked BB uncertainly.

"Perhaps friend Beast Boy has the correct idea… I believe that this would be the best way to contact them," said Starfire.

"I think that Beast Boy is right…" said Raven dryly. BB perked up considerably, ecstatic that his crush agreed with him. Until… "…for once…" she finished. So much for that…

The Titans, after having left the pizza place the previous night, had headed home to the Bat Cave-- I mean, the T-Tower. So now, the next morning (it was actually Friday), they were debating whether or not to page Shadow and Nightmare on their communicators.

"But nothing's happening!" said Robin indignantly. "There's no reason to call them, and what if they say, 'what's up,' and nothing's up?"

"And this is our leader…" said Raven mockingly.

"Well!" Robin continued. "What do we do then? WHAT DO WE DO THEN?"

"And they say he's not obsessive-compulsive…" Raven quipped again.

"Dude, chill!" said Beast Boy.

The Boy No Wonder-- I mean the Boy Blunder-- I mean the-- well, you know what I mean! Anyway, Batman's protégé sits down on the couch and crosses his arms stubbornly, shaking his head. (Don't ask me what protégé means, they call him that in the comic books!)

"That's it…" said Raven. "If you're too scared to make a simple phone call, then I will…_honestly_…" she muttered as she picked up her communicator. She hooked it up to the TV so that all of the Titans could see Shadow and Nightmare (assuming that they answered, that is) and that Shadow and Nightmare could see all of the Titans.

Then she pressed _page_.

* * *

Nearly two thousand miles away, on the Eastern Coast, Shadow and Nightmare were having another exciting day! 

…in the seventh grade.

After all, they had secret identities, and all normal twelve-year-olds go to school, don't they? But, of course, they looked different when they were under cover. Using their powers, they had changed how they looked- Nightmare (AKA L. Leigh Vader IV what the "L" stands for is in the AN at the top) had black hair and light blue eyes, while Shadow (AKA Ashline J. Rainne) had dark red hair, sea-green eyes, as well as braces and glasses.

As the Boy-No-Wonder was having his little argument with the rest of the Titans, Leigh and Ashline were in their last period of the day-- history. Yippee.

No, seriously. They had the most awesome teacher in the world. But, although he let the students call him whatever they wanted to (Ashline and Leigh preferred "Jedi Master House") the subject and material were about as fun to study as it is to wash dishes.

Anyway, although this guy was the most awesome teacher anywhere, he had one very, VERY rule that he was very strict about (well, besides popped collars): no cellular telephones of any kind in class.

Well, this rule was broken when the two communicators in the pockets of the two unsuspecting girls went off, interrupting the notes they were taking about the "most boring and important thing you'll ever study" (in Jedi Master's words). It was -DUN, DUNN- the US government.

Ashline had been just about to get out another piece of notebook paper to continue her notes (she was a perfect student: straight A's, homework and projects always completed to perfection, and just a bit nerdy), when, suddenly, a familiar beeping tune blared out of nowhere.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP-BEEP._

'Twas the Titans' theme!

The color drained from Leigh's face as she looked up from her notes (well, doodles, more exactly) and at Ashline.

"Oh, crud," Leigh muttered.  
"Um… I have to go to the bathroom," said Ashline quickly, jumping up and exiting the room quickly. The JedI master had been looking around the room suspiciously for the source of the noise.

Leigh, following Ashline's lead, got up and followed her.

In the bathroom, Ashline had pulled off her glasses and transformed (I say transformed cause they can both change how they look at will) back into Shadow, and was speaking to the Titans on the Communicator.

"What's up?" Shadow said, expecting trouble.

Following suit, Leigh also transformed into her super-hero form and opened her communicator.

There was a loud, "I TOLD YOU SO!" from Robin.

"We wanted to tell you guys that if you plan on joining the Titans you need to show up at the Tower for initiation," said Cyborg, taking the lead shamelessly.

"Um… like, now?" said Shadow.

"Yes. Or soon," said Raven.

"We can be there in… under an hour," said Shadow, consulting her watch.

"You're not going to make us do the Chicken Dance for two hours or anything, are you?" asked Nightmare suspiciously.

"Of course we're not going to make you do the Chicken Dance," Raven scoffed. "We're going to give you some training and a tour of Titans Tower."

"Oh… OK," said Nightmare.

"We'll see you then," said Shadow, flipping her communicator shut.

She transformed back into Ashline and headed back to class. Nightmare followed suit again.

Sorry for the insanely short chapter! I promise that the next one will be much longer!


	15. Initiation

Not much to say, actually. For once. Just sign the petition! Here's the link:  
http/www dot petitionspot dot com/petitions/www dot petitionspot dot comteentitans

Chapter Fifteen: Initiation

As soon as school got out, Ashline and Leigh ran off campus to the nearest alleyway. They transformed into Shadow and Nightmare and teleported straight to the T-Tower.

The Titans were waiting for them on the roof.

As they approached the five super-powered teens, Shadow had a feeling that something was going on-- the evil grin on Raven's face might have had something to do with this assumption.

As soon as they got within three feet of the Titans, Robin yelled, "Titans, GO!" and the team jumped into action, with--

DUN, DUNN:

Tutus, rubber chickens, unicycles and books entitled "Songs for Looong Car Rides;" one of each for Shadow and Nightmare.

"W-what are you doing with th-those?" Nightmare stuttered.

"We're going to initiate you guys as Titans. But first, do you promise to be good heroes, and above all, good friends, to help make this team better at ridding the world of evil-doers?" said Robin.

Shadow and Nightmare nodded, terrified.

"Excellent," Raven said, still grinning evilly. "INITITATE THEM!"

"Oh, crud," said Nightmare.

"RUN!" yelled Shadow.

* * *

Twenty-four hours of balancing on a unicycle wearing a tutu, rubber chicken, and a mustache while singing "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me," later…

"WELCOME TO THE TEAM!" said Robin enthusiastically.

"Wait, so… it's over?" said Nightmare weakly, falling off her unicycle.

"Yep! You guys are official, initiated Titans!" said Robin.

"Welcome to the team," said Cyborg, shaking each of the two girls' hands.

"Thanks…" said Nightmare. All of the screaming in pain from wearing the pink tutu seemed to have taken a lot out of her.

"Cool!" Shadow exclaimed. "We're Titans! WHOO HOO!"

"See, initiation wasn't that hard, was it?" said Robin

"I think fighting Slade would be easier…" Shadow muttered.

The Titans just laughed.

Author's Note: because this chapter was sooo short, I feel compelled to do something I've never done before: give you a preview of the next one!

Here's a line from the next chapter:

"OHMYGAWD!" Cyborg yelled, starting to laugh out loud now. "WERE YOU TWO SNUGGLING?"

Until next time!


	16. Afternoon Nap

Wow, sixteen chapters already? This fic will be over before we know it! (I think that the next chapter shall be the last one.) But never fear, I have three sequels planned, if not more! MWAHAHAHA! MY LITTLE UNIVERSE SHALL CONTINUE FOREVER! O, yea, and for those who wanted fluff, there's some stuff that's borderline fluff in this chapter.  
I dedicate this chapter to Esplodin' Ookami, who has been begging for fluff since the fist time she reviewed me. So, at long last, (as I promised! See, I kept my promise that I'd put some fluff in near the end…). Fluffy enough for you? J  
Haha… I'm evilll… I had WAY too much fun writing this chapter… XD

Chapter Sixteen: Afternoon Nap

It was a quiet afternoon at the T-Tower. The setting sun cast a warm, red glow on the panes of the giant structure where the heroes dwelled, making it look peaceful and happy.

The Titans, minus Beast Boy and Raven, had all gone out to the mall- they wanted to hold a Halloween party at some point, and since Halloween was only a few weeks away, they decided that they'd better get started.

The summer had been long and fairly uneventful- borderline boring. Nothing big had happened, except Beast Boy having a growth spurt and shooting up at a fairly alrming rate. He was no longer the shortest Titan, not to mention that he was now a good three inches taller than Raven. So, the Titans (with their new height order) had watched the little city from their Tower.

So, on this afternoon in late fall, Beast Boy and Raven were home alone. Early that morning it had been raining, and Cinderblock had decided to raid a construction site.

Just as the chill morning mist was evaporating and the rain stopped did they beat him. However, they had all still been out in the freezing cold rain from about 4 AM on.

Anyway, after the T-Car had pulled off, Beast Boy decided that he didn't want to bother Raven, sitting on the couch, reading a novel, not only because of his maaad crush on her, bet because she was the one that had ended up really taking out Cinderblock that morning. Also, the freezing temperatures seemed to have gotten to her- she would shiver every now and then.

So, Beast Boy turned into a kitten and curled up in a patch of sunlight on the couch.

* * *

A few hours, later he woke up. Noticing that his patch of sunlight was gone (the sun ad set completely now), he stretched out his claws and was about to go back to sleep when he noticed something. 

He wasn't the only one who had fallen asleep. Raven's book was on the floor, and her face was turned away from him; she was leaning on one of the arms of the couch.

Noticing that she was shaking slightly, he got up and left the room to get her a blanket.

When he came back into the room, blanket in hand, he thought that he heard whimpering. Dumbfound, he looked for the source of the noise, until he realized something: Raven was talking in her sleep.

Gently, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and made another startling realization: Raven wasn't just talking in her sleep, she was crying.

Wishing to comfort her, he sat down beside her and gently wrapped his arms around her. Surprisingly, she unconciously curled up next to him and laid her head on his chest.

After watching her protectively for a while (and making sure that she wasn't crying any more), Beast Boy felt himself drifting off, too…

* * *

The other Titans returned to the silent Tower around ten PM. No one noticed the silence immediately as they talked happily about their plans for the party. Suddenly, Shadow said, "Shhh!" 

"What?" said Cyborg quickly.

"It's quiet…" answered Shadow.

"Too quiet," finished Nightmare.

Imagine the surprise of the five Titans when they found their two teammates cuddled up nice an' cozy on the couch of the main room...

"Oh, this is too good," said Cyborg, smirking . "No one wake them up, I have an idea."

Silently, he pulled a smoke alarm out of one of his compartments. He held it up really close to the two sleeping Titans, and lit a match.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

They both screamed, and suddenly Raven and Beast Boy were holding each very tightly, looking with terror at Cyborg's alarm.

Then, at the same moment, they looked at each other, and screamed again, letting go and jumping away from each other. (Raven's was a full out leap over the edge of the couch, Beast Boy's a half-hearted jump.)

"OHMYGAWD!" Cyborg yelled, starting to laugh out loud now. "WERE YOU TWO _SNUGGLING_?"

"Ex-_cuse_ me?" said Raven in a not-too-convincing cold voice; the blush creeping up her face really gave it away. Beast Boy's face was also turning red, a stark contrast to his green skin.

"YOU'RE BLUSHING!" yelled Cyborg, laughing like an idiot. "YOU'RE BOTH BLUSHING!"

Raven pulled up the hood of her cloak.

"Please correct me if I am wrong…" said Starfire innocently. "But is this… snuggling not something that the friends of boy and girl do?"

"YEAH, IT IS SOMETHING THAT COUPLES DO!" said Cyborg. "OOOOOH, YOU LIIIIIKE EACH OTHER!"

Cyborg was howling with laughter; Shadow, Nightmare, and Starfire were giggling;Robin was laughing but trying to hide it by putting his face in his hands. It was a bit too much for Raven, so, still blushing furiously, she said, "Do you think that I got nice and snuggly with Beast Boy?"

"Well, yeah, you guys were all cozied up when we got back," said Cyborg, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Well, I doubt that I did anything wrong! All I did was fall asleep on the couch; we find you here knocked out all the time!" Raven growled as a lamp exploded behind her.

"YEAH, BUT-" Cyborg started, beginning to yell again.

"Leave her alone!" came the voice of the changeling suddenly as he walked over and put his hand on Raven's shoulder.

"OOOH, STANDIN' UP FOR YOUR GIRLFRIEND!"

"Ok, now you're just being annoying…" Shadow muttered.

"Ok, prove it!" said Cyborg.

"Prove what? That you're an annoying, immature pinhead? Even Beast Boy could see that," said Raven dryly.

"No! What's the last thing you remember before falling asleep?" Cyborg said.

"Getting to the really boring part of this book..."

"Oh… I see," said Cyborg. "So it was Beast Boy…"

The cybernetic teen, grinning evilly,rounded on the green one, who seemed to shrink and lose the several inches that he had on Raven under Cy's searching stare.

"Then what's the last thing that you remember?"

"Um… Raven was asleep on the couch and she was shivering… so I got her a blanket," Beast Boy answered, purposely leaving out the part about her crying in her sleep. "Well, then I turned back into a cat and was napping on the other end of the couch… mebbe I just sleepwalked or something…"

Cyborg looked vaguely disappointed that what they had walked in on was not, in fact, an act of scandal, but Beast Boy just trying to be a good citizen.

"Ok, can I leave now, or is there more interrogation to come?" Raven asked quietly.

Cyborg said, "Yeah… I guess there's no blackmail material here…"

But even though his words said that he was dropping it, the evil glint in his eyes (eye?) said otherwise.

Raven got up and left. Beast Boy seemed to want to leave too, but didn't want it to seem that he was following Raven. So, he sat awkwardly on the couch for a few minutes before departing to his room as well.


	17. The Beginning or THE END?

Ah… the end of my fanfic. I want to send out one final thanks to everyone who helped this fic be- all my readers, reviewers, and helpers.

Chapter Seventeen: The Beginning

The morning after the whole incident, Cyborg pulled Robin, Starfire, Shadow, and Nightmare out of their respective rooms, and put them in the T-Car, leaving a note saying that he was going out for breakfast and that they didn't feel like waiting around cause they were hungry now.

'Course, this wouldn't have been quite as strange as it was then if Cyborg hadn't done all of this at five in the morning.

So, as soon as the (rather groggy) Titans were in the car, Cyborg gunned the engine and sped off of the island and into the city.

There, they all sat in a park on that dewy, chilly morning. Cy had promised them breakfast, so he brought a few cups and a pot of coffee with them, as well as a box of donuts.

"Wh-what's all this about?" Robin said, trying and failing to stifle a huge yawn.

"Our… fellow Titans," said Cyborg, starting to grin.

"Not this again…" muttered Shadow.

"No, I'm serious!" Cyborg said, now sounding serious and replacing the grin on his face with an equally serious look. "I think… no, I know that they both like each other."

"Yeah… so? It's more than just a bit obvious…" said Shadow. "Everyone knows that."

"I concur," said Nightmare, speaking up.

"Yes, that's the thing. Everyone knows… except the two of them. Beast Boy doesn't really think that Raven likes him… and vice versa," said Cyborg.

"So… you dragged us out of bed and into a freezing cold park at five AM to tell us something that we all already knew?" said Nightmare, looking a tad annoyed.

"No. I brought you here to tell you of my brilliant plan. It came to me last night, just before I powered down…"

* * *

Back at the Tower, Raven had been meditating on the roof since about four AM-- she hadn't been able to sleep as soon as the sun started to rise.  
However, she came out of her trance when she saw the T-Car racing away at top speed at 5 AM. 

Wanting to investigate, (and still thinking that most of her fellow Titans were still asleep in their beds) she crept down to the main room, where she found Cyborg's hastily-scribbled note.

It read:

Hungry. Going out for donuts. Hungry now. Don't want to wait. Be back later.

Ok. So the rest of the Titans were still in the Tower, right?

A quick trip to Beast Boy's room made her think so. She leaned her head against the door, she could just hear him breathing.

She was thinking about him. Last night, when she was sure that everyone else was asleep, she had hacked into the Tower's security system and gotten the footage of what had happened…

And, instead of feeling angry or violated, she felt…

How did she feel? She was an empath who was forced to suppress her own emotions… so she could feel for others better than she could feel for herself.

She didn't know how she felt, honestly. Which made her feel empty, which made her feel a tinge of sadness, which reminded her of the fact that she was the only one in Titans Tower without a best friend, which reminded her that she was all alone.

But she also was reminded of one other thing…

Beast Boy was always the one who reached out to her. Comforting her when she was heartbroken, always trying to make her laugh and have a good time with the others, understanding her ups and downs…

She understood how she felt now.

Complete.

And she was still standing there, leaning against his door, and letting the feeling of completeness wash over her.

Until, apparently, that feeling got a bit too strong. There was a shriek of surprise from within, and in under 5 seconds, Beast Boy had come bursting out of his room, only in his boxers.  
Of course, Raven was still leaning against the door.

She fell directly into him, and on instinct, he put his arms around her protectively.

"What's happening?" he asked quickly, looking directly into her eyes.

"Um… nothing, really," she said, starting to blush and trying to look over his shoulder.

"Uh, no offense," he said slowly. "But it's a bit… unlike you to be standing outside of my room blowing stuff up unless something's up…"

"Oh!" she said, blushing harder. "Well… you see…" she explained all about Cyborg rushing off so early.

"Ok… well, if he's gone, can I make you breakfast or something?"

"Well… ok."

"Great!" he said, smiling broadly. "Lemme just put a shirt on or something…"

As they walked down, Raven identified another emotion she felt when she was with him.

Love.

* * *

"…so your master plan is basically to get BB and Raven together by any means necessary?" asked Shadow, summing up what Cyborg had been going on about for the past twenty minutes or so. 

"Oh, and that's only the beginning of my plan," Cyborg finished. "Only the Beginning…"

THE END?

Look for the sequel to The Beginning: Strange Happenings! Coming soon to a computer (or cell phone) near you.


End file.
